NJDOT
awards $67.5 million in grants to New Jersey municipalities Local
aid will fund street improvement projects and relieve property
taxes

(Trenton)
Commissioner Jack Lettiere today announced that the New Jersey
Department of Transportation (NJDOT) will award $67.5 million
in Municipal Aid to fund street improvement, rehabilitation and
safety projects in 413
New
Jersey towns.

"The
Municipal Aid program enables the Department of Transportation
to stimulate economic growth and improve New Jersey's quality
of life by fixing our road networks without burdening local taxpayers,"
said Lettiere.

Municipal
Aid grants provide direct property tax relief for municipalities
that would otherwise devote local tax revenue to these projects.
Municipal
governments maintain over 25,000 miles, or approximately 70 percent,
of New Jersey's 36,000 miles of roadway. Local property taxes
seldom provide sufficient funds for proper roadway repair and
maintenance.

"Every
penny that comes from the Municipal Aid program is a penny that
is not taken out of the taxpayer's pocket," said Assemblyman John
S. Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), Chairman of the Assembly Transportation
Committee. "This funding from the Transportation Trust Fund is
vital to the maintenance of our transportation infrastructure.
We need to find a funding source for the Trust Fund so that projects
like these can continue."

NJDOT
encourages municipalities to apply for Municipal Aid funding through
its Local Aid Division. The grant program covers a variety of
projects, including road resurfacing, rehabilitation, reconstruction
and signalization.

The
Municipal Aid program is directly funded by the Transportation
Trust Fund. NJDOT allots each county a specific funding
amount based on its population and road mileage and distributes
funds to towns based on field investigations and engineering evaluations
of proposed projects. NJDOT provides 75% of the amount
of the grant when it awards a contract and the remaining 25% upon
completion of the project.

NJDOT's
Municipal Aid grant program is very popular and extremely competitive.
This year, NJDOT will fund 413 - or 52% - of the 788
grant
requests received. Funding for this popular program also is limited;
NJDOT received over $200 million in requests.